'Really disgusted': Vandals desecrate last memory of dad

THE daughters of a man who died in the carpark of the Kin Kora McDonald's almost three years ago have been left disgusted by disrespectful vandals.

On Tuesday, daughter Caitlin Pugh said she and her sister had been visiting the memorial they had put up for their father under a tree outside the fast food restaurant when they discovered their father's plaque had been vandalised with spray-paint.

"We went there for lunch (when) we saw it. It looks like three people have tagged it and they've coloured in the picture of a train and and the word 'love'," Caitlin said.

Caitlin and Amanda Pugh have been trying to clean the plaque dedicated to their father who passed away 2 years ago after it was graffitied.Mike Richards GLA170118VANDL

"We were really quite shocked, we've never experienced this.

"It's (the plaque) not doing anyone any harm, it's a memorial, it's for him to be remembered not damaged or vandalised.

"I don't know why this would happen to us."

Vaughan Pugh had worked as an Aurizon train driver before he died of a "massive cardiac arrest" on February 4, 2015, Caitlin said.

"He literally just pulled up the car in the carpark and died," she said.

"I wasn't there but my mum and sisters were."

Caitlin said it had originally been her sister Amanda's idea to install the plaque for their father.

Plaque vandalism:
Two sisters are disgusted that unknown vandals desecrated the plaque put up in memory of their father.

"We have his ashes, so because dad's at home, he's not buried anywhere," Caitlin said.

"We asked the manager and owner of that store (McDonald's Kin Kora) if we could put a little plaque on the rock there because that was where he died.

"We check it every time we visit just to make sure it's OK and it hasn't fallen off the rock or anything."

Despite doing their best to try and clean off the graffiti, the sisters have been unable to return the plaque to its untarnished state.

"We're very angry and really disgusted with the Gladstone region," Amanda Pugh said.

Caitlin agreed and said she "was not very impressed".

"I wouldn't do that to someone, why should they do it to us? It's not nice."

HEARTBROKEN: Caitlin and Amanda Pugh have been trying to clean the plaque (inset) dedicated to their father, who passed away two years ago, after it was graffitied on Tuesday.Mike Richards GLA170118VANDL

She said her efforts to clean the plaque would continue until the spray-paint was removed.

"I think I'm going to have to call whoever made the plaque and ask how to get it off and keep it from becoming like this again," she said.